Stars and Stripes Centerpieces

By Kate Riley • July 2, 2009

Last year, we had a huge Fourth of July barbeque for fifty friends. It was so much fun. We can see our local fireworks from our front porch, so we’re a great place for an evening party. Every year, all the kids from the neighborhood end up at our house for Mr. CG’s street fireworks show. This year, I skipped throwing a party, but I still like to add a festive touch to my table.

I bought some basic canisters from Michaels in white and red, and a few spools of ribbon.

This is not a novel concept to use ribbon for decorating centerpieces, but this is my simple and easy approach. With my hot glue gun, and some double sided tape, and some simple annuals, I came up with these:

Stars and Stripes Planter Centerpieces:

These little planters are so easy, there’s no need for any sort of tutorial.

Add drainage holes to the bottom with a hammer and nail:

Add a bit of ribbon with hot glue to the back seam. Then use double sided tape to guide your ribbon around the canister, and keep it straight. Use one more dab of hot glue to keep the other end of the ribbon in place.

Plant your flowers in your pot – simple !

For the red canister with blue trim, I planted white ‘Victory Vinca’.

For the white canister with red trim, I planted ‘Marine Blue’ lobelia.

For the white canister with blue trim, I planted ‘Quartz Scarlet’ verbena.

So here are my Festive Fourth Flower Pots. So simple and easy !

My favorite part is that I can easily remove the ribbon and reuse the planters later in the year for other tablescapes. I am already thinking of adding green and brown velvet ribbon to the white canisters for the fall. And I have big plans at Christmas to add cream velvet ribbon to the red canister for a mini fir tree.

I hope you all have a fabulous Fourth ! I so love this patriotic holiday, and what it represents: freedom. I’ll leave you with some photos from my visit to the state capitol in Sacramento earlier this week.

SO cute! At first when I saw you were adding ribbon I thought, "ugh, big ribbon bows!" Nope – yours are ADORABLE! If you completely covered with ribbon you could just use tin cans, then you wouldn't have to change the ribbon each season, you could have new ones for each season! I might steal it! :)

These are really classy and add a great touch of decor for the 4th. I was thinking about using some cans (after cleaning them out of course) which would be a great way to recycle. Since you're covering them up, no one would know.

Hello, I'm Kate! I'm a renovator, decorator, and do-it-yourselfer who writes about great interior design and home improvement. Welcome to the place where I share my advice and adventures in decorating and DIY projects! Learn more.